Hello all...Yes, here we are in Thailand... home of the world's most recent (and most peaceful) military coup. The military took control of the govt when PM Thaksin was in NYC at the UN and out clubbing in SoHo. It is like a big national holiday with banks and schools closed. Sort of like Christmas, but with tanks on the streets of Bangkok and soldiers stationed at all major intersections in Chiang Mai where we live (sitting on 125cc scooters instead of tanks). Minus Santa Claus. Malaysian newspapers report it as "Coup-lite" .

The coup most likely went something like this:

military leaders walk past Thai Parliment security gates in Bangkok (sort of like the quick wave you give to Pepperdine guard booth attendents as you speed through the gate)walk into offices and say, "excuse me, sorry but we have been instructed to tell you to leave and that we will take over the govt from here"govt staff give a half smile and quick bow/'wai', think about where they will go eat now that they have been told to leave the office, and then leave the officeTV and radio stations are taken over to broadcast feel-good messages about the kingmilitary leaders occupy the desks of govt staff and do one or more of the following:clip fingernails/pluck nose hairsfasten white gloves under epaulets

rummage thru important papers on desk... by-passing top secret documents, finally happy to find a comic bookwonder what is for lunch now that they have taken over the govt.This is the 19th coup in Thai history- most of which have been peaceful. Even though,it is still unfortunate that the govt had to be taken over.

So- no need to worry about us. We have set up our house here in Chiang Mai (you are welcome to visit anytime) work is good and things are going well.